Another Year Around The Sun
by MeowzieChan
Summary: Emu's birthday isn't really something he's ever celebrated, per se. He just couldn't see the point.


_June 14, 1992_

A genius gamer is born.

* * *

_June 03, 2000_

"How dare he… How dare he, how dare he, how _dare_ he?!"

A 14-year-old game designer decides to send a game demo to one of his fans, one with a little something extra hidden deep inside.

* * *

_June 14, 2000_

Hojo Emu looks around the shelves of the store, and then back down at his grocery list. "Uh… let's see…" It takes a bit of work to reach his preferred crackers – they're just barely within reach. Convenience stores aren't made for little kids to be browsing alone, but… well, that's how it is. Lugging the basket, he makes his way to the counter.

"Oh, Emu-kun! Just you again?" This clerk's one of the real nice ones, who always helps him with the high-up stuff. She smiles at him, and it looks kinda sad. He's never gotten why.

"Mm-hm."

"Your dad off at another conference?"

"Mm-hm." As he places his planned purchases on the counter, she doesn't make a move to help. He knows that she knows that he likes that he's able to do it on his own when he can, even if it does make her get that pinched look around her eyes sometimes. He's never understood that, either.

As he pulls out his wallet, with this weeks allotted grocery money, he notices that there's a little more than usual. Did he forget to get something last week? …Maybe, but he'd have realized by now if he did that, wouldn't he? Either way, he's got a little extra today. As he considers whether he should get something, or put this toward his game savings, the date on the newspaper catches his eye.

…Oh. He'd lost track of the date again, hadn't he? He's good about remembering the day of the week, and classes don't change all that much, but the day itself isn't always intuitive.

There _should_ still be that pack of mini-candles from last year in the cabinet, right? Right.

Emu peers at the bakery display, checking the options, and re-counts his money. Yeah, he can pull this off. He points at one of the cupcakes. "Can I get that, too?"

* * *

'_G__et everything into the fridge and freezer before they get too warm, do your homework, take a shower…'_ On the way home, Emu plans out his evening. It helps to get it all in mind _before_ he starts playing. _'…try to remember dinner tonight, you forgot a few nights ago when you got caught up in a game, and you almost forgot just now…'_

"Oh, the mail's here. …What's this?"

There's a sturdy brown envelope in with the usual medical jargon magazines and journals. He's not sure why his father even bothers to get them, it's not like he's here often enough to ever actually read them.

But this envelope is addressed to _E__mu_. …Oh, sweet, is that the Genm Corp logo in the return address?!

* * *

_June 14, 2005_

"Hojo-kun!"

"Yeah?" Emu doesn't look up from his handheld.

"What are the rules about games in class, again?"

He just barely avoids rolling his eyes. Miss Haruna is such a _stickler_ sometimes. "They're not allowed during class or study periods. But this is neither, it's lunch, and I still have five minutes before it ends. It's all perfectly legitimate."

She sighs. "_R__eally_, Hojo-kun. You're so _smart_, I'd hate to see that go to waste because of those video games of yours."

He sighs right back, straightening out from where he'd curled his legs under him. At least she'd interrupted him while he was at a save point. "I'm _not_ letting anything go to waste. I've got near-top grades in your English class, same as everything else except gym, and that's a completely useless class anyway. It's not like I'm gonna need it." He pauses. "Unless I wind up going for being a surgeon, the stamina might help there. But I'm not trying for that field, so it's fine."

Miss Haruna just shakes her head. "What is with these doctors-to-be and being against socialization…" She turns to head back to her desk, before pausing and turning back. "Oh, right, I came over here for a reason, didn't I? I wanted to ask, had you wanted the class to do anything for your birthday? You didn't mention it beforehand, so I didn't _think_ you did, but also you don't really talk that much, so."

"Huh?" Now, _that_ throws him for a loop. He looks at the blackboard, and yup, sure enough, it's his birthday. Huh.

How time flies.

But really…

"Why would I want to do anything? It's just a day."

He's not lying, not really. He's never understood why people get so excited about celebrating these things. It's enough to do it on your own, right?

…He _is_ going to go buy a cupcake on his way home tonight, though.

* * *

_June 13, 2010_

'_quarter-circle left punch dodge high kick special up dodge low kick punch punch special and finish!'_

He smirks, going to pat his much younger opponent on the shoulder. "That was a good game. Hope we can play again some time."

* * *

_June 14, 2010 – late morning_

"And now, this years champion, once again, Genius Gamer M!"

He beams as he walks on stage, arms raised in triumph. This is a danged good birthday gift – not that he'd even been thinking of it like that when he'd qualified to get into the tournament. There was almost no doubt he was going to _win_, but if he'd remembered that the finals would be today of all days… well. He'd have made the match even showier. Just to rub it in 'that guy's' face, even if he _isn't_ watching.

It would serve him _right_.

He strides across the stage, with maybe a little less care than he should be using. (That poor theater curtain in '08…) But he's done it, he's won and to the victor go the sp-

(A few days later, he'll find out that he froze for a second, and then fell to the ground. A few _weeks_ later, he'll find out that it took almost three minutes before anyone realized he wasn't playing around.)

* * *

_June 14, 2010 – late at night_

It hurts. Everything hurts and then it hurts _more_ and what are they _doing_ they're doing it wrong stop that _what are you doing_ no don't do that _just go away_ no STOP IT!

* * *

_June 14, 2011 – afternoon_

"I'm late I'm late I'm late!"

The other students at Seito University don't pay too much mind to the mantra that one Hojo Emu is chanting as he runs across campus, except to step out of his way. Just in case.

He skids to a halt – somehow remaining upright, to several peoples' disappointment. Nobody will admit that there's a running tally of how often he trips per week… unless you want in on the betting pool, that is.

Blinking at the signboard that had caught his attention, he shrugs. "Oh. Huh. I'll have to stop in tonight." He looks back down at his watch, and takes back off. "aAARGH I'm late I'm late I'm late!"

Special dessert night is always a good time, more so today. It means he won't have to try and find a convenience store with decent but affordable baked goods.

That's one thing living back in Juuban had over the Seito area. It was _way_ easier to get sweet stuff there on the cheap. Why do all the bakeries around here have to be so _expensive_?! He is on a _budget_!

* * *

_June 14, 2011 – evening_

Okay, so one of Kuroto's 'rules' was that Parad couldn't let anyone find out about him. He never actually _said_ that Parad couldn't leave the old office alone. So, that means he just has to not get caught, that's all.

It's a little earlier than he'd usually go out into the company HQ, but also he doesn't want to go to any of his – of M's old haunts right now, and he hasn't had a chance to raid any of the employee's 'secret' snack funds to actually _pay_ for anything, besides.

So it's all the more convenient that the cafeteria had cupcakes today.

All it takes is a quick teleport into a back corner, one where he knows nobody ever sits, behind a potted plant. Then, since nobody's in the cafeteria right now, he can just sneak into the food service area, and grab one for himself. Then, a quick teleport back to the office.

…Followed by a jump back to grab napkins. He's a monster, not an _animal_.

(Parad was, in fact, spotted. Nobody got a good look at him, they never do. But the rumors of just _how_ haunted the company may or may not be only grow that night. Especially when one of the kitchen staff swears that he'd seen the company ghost carefully set a plate on the stack to be cleaned.)

* * *

_June 14, 2012 – evening_

"Did anyone ever tell you you're weird?" Graphite scoffs.

Rolling his eyes, Parad shrugs. "I mean, not like either of us are any sort of normal by human standards. Do you want this or not?"

Looking shiftily off to the side, Graphite visibly hesitates, before grabbing the offered slice of strawberry shortcake.

"Thought so~." Parad smirks, before settling cross-legged on top of a desk to eat his cupcake.

* * *

_June 14, 2013 – evening_

"Hey! Hojo!" One of the men in Emu's mandatory literature class calls out to him in the cafeteria. "You wanna go out with us tonight?"

…Why are they inviting him along? It's not like he's particularly social. He's a bit busy, after all. "What do you mean by 'go out'?"

The guy – What was his name? Tanaka? – laughs. "We're going to a _bar_. Thought we'd try and get you out of your digital shell for a little while."

Emu grimaces. "I… uh, I've never had alcohol before."

Another classmate, Yamamoto, pulls back. "What, never? You never snuck anything out of your parents supply when you were a teen?"

"That would require my father to have been around enough to _have_ a supply."

They look at each other at that comment. Yeah, okay, Emu gets that a lot. It took until he was fifteen to figure out just _why_ everyone had that sort of reaction to his lack of parental supervision – that it wasn't actually normal for most people.

"So, how old are you, anyway?" Yamamoto asks slowly.

Emu glances at his phone. "Let's see, it's six pm, so… I'm 21, as of seven hours ago."

Tanaka and Yamamoto look at each other again, and this time they grin. ""We're taking you to the bar.""

Sighing, Emu resigns himself to not getting any further in his latest RPG tonight.

* * *

_June 14, 2013 – evening_

Parad swings in his hammock, humming. They'd had dark chocolate cupcakes in the cafeteria today. …Fine, yes, he was a little less careful than usual, and he _might_ have been seen, but probably not. Nobody's reported any sightings of vanishing people to Kuroto yet, so him and Graphite are still fine.

Okay, except for that time when Graphite went to 'talk to' the design team for the new Drago Knight game. But also Kuroto never came at them about that, even though he was _definitely_ seen that time, so… eh. Whatever.

"What's got _you_ so happy?" Graphite looks at Parad from his perch. He's long since claimed a personal spot in a corner. Neither Parad or Kuroto are sure _where_ he got the cushions to make a pseudo-nest, but it's _really_ cool. Sometimes they turn it into a cave, which is even cooler, but right now he's on top of the filing cabinet that makes up one side.

"Dunno. Just a good day, I guess." Shrugging, Parad continues to swing.

"Hmph." Smirking, Graphite jumps down and warps to Parad, looming over him. "Liar. I know you've got that weird thing where you _insist_ on keeping your human's birthday-"

"It's when I got created, too, jerk."

"Yeah, whatever. How old is he?"

Parad pauses, thinking. It's been a while since he's considered how old he – how old M – how old they are.

…Oh.

"Twenty one, I think. It's 2013, yeah? So twenty one."

Graphite grins one of his 'I've got a plan, and Kuroto's not gonna like it' grins. "So, if he's as much of a goodie two shoes without you around as you say he is, he's never had a drink. Ever."

"I – we were more into gaming, so no. No, we didn't." Narrowing his eyes, Parad looks up at Graphite suspiciously. "What are you getting at?"

"Let's go do what our hosts were too 'good' to do." Graphite's grin grows. "The girl would've been twenty one about four months ago, so I can't go off what she'd have remembered."

Parad sits up at this, smirking. "Bet I can last longer 'n you."

"In your dreams, nerd."

* * *

_June 15, 2013 – mid-morning_

""I am never doing that again.""

In hindsight, their respective drinking partners really should have known better than to challenge Emu and Parad to drinking _games_.

Parad spends the day holed up in Graphite's 'cave', and hissing at him and Kuroto when they try to get him to come out.

Emu spends the day trying to figure out why his hangover is lasting for so much longer than it reasonably should. All the resources he has available – which are numerous and detailed – say it shouldn't last the entire day like this.

(The entire situation is caught in a feedback loop between the two – they are reinforcing each others hangovers.)

(Whoops.)

* * *

_June 14, 2017_

Emu's too distracted to remember that he's turned 25. He's too busy to care, really. He's fighting a madman, with the aid of another madman, and right now two of his very few friends are on the opposing side.

So, three days after he's been spin-kicked into the waves, and punched Kiriya right back in retaliation, he's still in a foul mood.

Yes, he's playing along with _whatever_ it is that Kiriya's planning. He trusts him, but that doesn't mean that Emu has to _l__ike_ it.

He's frowning at the chart on the board when Nico gets in. "Sup, nerd!"

He just nods in Nico's direction, not actually looking at her until she practically slams a box down onto the table. "What are you doing?"

"Well, a certain retired gamer never turned his profiles private when he went off to med school." She smirks at him. "So, since he's been a bit distracted by the whole situation going on lately, I took the liberty of doing something about today."

Taiga, who's just come in as well, looks at her oddly. "What are you _talking_ about?"

…Wait. It's not… Emu glances at the calendar. Oh _no_…

"Nico, no." Emu grimaces. "Why."

"Ta-da~!" She lifts the lid off of the cake box dramatically.

Emu sighs. "Nico, you _really_ didn't have to – I'm not saying that in an 'oh, you shouldn't have' sort of way, I mean that you actually shouldn't have."

Poppy _squeals_. "Emuuuu! Why didn't you _say_ it was your birthday!"

"Because as far as I'm concerned, this is basically just another day, I really don't care about it." Slumping, he looks at the cake. It's pretty well done, really. It's in the pinks and greens he has as Ex-Aid, so she obviously had it customized. The little Mighty figure on top is kinda neat too. …He is keeping that figurine. She will have to actually fight him for it.

Though he has no idea where she got a cake like th- ohhhh. Looking at the box… it's from that bakery Hiiro usually visits. Fair enough. He hadn't thought they'd do neon decorations, though.

"So, I'd've gotten candles, too, but I kinda thought that might be a bad idea, since, y'know, hospital." Nico shrugs. "So, d'ya wanna make a wish some other way?"

Shaking his head, Emu gives a small smile. "Nah. I'm not much for that. Let's just have the cake."

(He very pointedly tries not to think about how this is, technically speaking, the closest that he's had to an actual birthday party.)

* * *

_June 14, 10 ASW_

Parad has long since determined, over the past year and a half, that Emu was right, years and years ago. It's much easier to make it through the day if he thinks a few steps ahead, plans his approach, and keeps reminding himself what to do.

Get up, clear out where you hid last night, figure out where to look today

Remember to swap your clothes to what people think is normal, you'll stand out too much in the ones you like

Check the date, remind yourself of the year, because this stupid world has a stupid alternate calendar, and the stupid currency is freaking _zenny_, and won't that be a laugh to share when you get back home?

Nico'll think it's hilarious, definitely.

_(Saiba Nico, Genius Gamer N, Ride Player Nico. Defeated her at Tekken in 2010. She chased Emu down and tried to get Taiga to beat him up in retaliation.)_

_(Hanaya Taiga, Kamen Rider Snipe. First person to get the compatibility surgery. Fought himself two-thirds to death to save his patients in 2011, and then four-fifths in 2017.)_

Remember to not try and transform if you get cornered. Your driver and gashat don't work here, and you'll just get zapped again if you try.

Look for Build

Try not to even look directly at that awful wall, you always feel sick to your stomach when you get too close.

Be forever ticked off that 'too close' is the equivalent of 'five city blocks' and half of the city is that close.

Wonder what could have caused this thing in the first place.

None of the official or unofficial stories sound right.

…

Find Build.

Get the bottles from him.

Get Emu his powers back.

They need him.

We need him.

You need him.

Get home.

Please please please be able to get home its been over a year and that's a long time…

…

Hold on.

Recheck the date.

Oh.

They're 27 now.

…

Check your wallet for what you've been able to earn doing the odd jobs that people will let someone with no identity help with.

(Remember to get mad later about how _common_ that seems to be here)

…Not enough extra to even get a muffin.

…

…

Find Build.

Get Emu's power back.

Get home.

(repeat cycle again and again and again and again…)

* * *

_June 14, 2018_

Parad starts the day by not coming out of his room.

Emu assumes he's just sleeping in, as he tends to do when he bothers to sleep in the first place. But it's mid-morning now, and he's starting to get worried, so Emu knocks on the door.

"Hey, are you awake in there?" There's no reply, per se, but a veritable wave of anxiety pulses down their connection before a mental shield cuts it off. He knocks again, more urgently this time. "Parad, hey, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing. Go away."

"Come on, we agreed that we were going to talk when things started going south, didn't we?"

"Go _away_."

"Ace?" Kiriya comes over from the living area. "Something going on?"

"Obviously, but I don't know what. D'you mind checking in?"

A grustrated growl comes from the room. "Lazer, don't you _dare_!"

"Back to Lazer now, am I?" Kiriya exchanges a worried look with Emu, before shrugging and dissolving into yellow lights that stream past the door.

"Leave me alone! I don't wanna talk to anyone!"

There's the sound of someone being shoved out of the way, an undignified yelp from Kiriya, and a muttered apology, before Parads signature red and blue effects pour out from the bedroom. He reassembles himself at the apartment door, grabs his keys, and pauses.

"…Brave's at a conference, yeah?"

Hesitantly, Emu nods. "Yeah, why?"

"…Old habits die hard." Parad lets the door slam behind him.

Walking out, and rubbing at his side, Kiriya lets out a low whistle. "Any idea what he meant by that?"

Emu grumbles, rubbing the back of his neck. "No, I can't think of… any… thing…" His gaze catches on the calendar. "Scratch that. How in the world… Ugh!" Dragging his palm down his face, he goes to grab his own keys. "Gotta go. Parad remembered our birthday, and I _didn't_."

* * *

"Can I get those two, right there? The pink and the red ones?"

"Certainly! Are you expecting someone?"

"Heh." Parad shakes his head. "Hard to say. If he doesn't show, I'll bring it to him later. Thank you." Nodding his appreciation, he grabs his bag after paying and steps out of the bakery.

An out of breath Emu is waiting for him. "Hi there… So… I'm a moron…"

"Yeah, well, I panicked, so let's skip the blame game. Prob'ly should have thought ahead, but hindsight's twenty-twenty and all that." Raising the bag, Parad grins nervously. "D'ya wanna find a spot to sit down? I already grabbed a pack of candles."

"Sure."

* * *

They make their way to a shaded picnic table. "So, any idea how to sing 'happy birthday' when it's two people singing to themselves at once?" Emu tries to joke as he sticks a candle in each cupcake. "Actually…" he pauses before he can put the green candle in his. "Did you still do this when you were living at Genm Corp?"

"Mm-hm. I _said_ old habits die hard, didn't I? There was always a suspiciously convenient cupcake day at the Genm cafeteria right around this time of year, too." Parad frowns. "I'm not sure if Kuroto realized I was going out there to nab them or not, but it worked."

Emu shrugs. "At least you were able to remember it? I forgot half the time, same as when we were a teen. Only remembered last years because it was sprung on me by the others. I guess we've both been celebrating pretty much alone, huh?"

"I mean, I had Graphite, but he thought I was being weird about it. Not like that stopped him from accepting the ones I brought back for him, though."

Emu laughs with a slight groan. "_Please_ tell me that a taste for sweets is from supplementary material for Drago Knight. Because if Graphite picked up a sweet tooth from Saki-"

"Sorry." Parad cuts him off. "He definitely got that particular quirk from Brave's girlfriend."

"Oh, man." Emu sighs. "Hiiro can _never_ learn about this."

"Of course not! I value my continued experience." Parad falls silent, his shoulders shaking.

"Hey, Parad." Moving around the table to sit next to Parad, Emu rests his hand on Parad's back. "You can talk to me. What's wrong?"

"…You let me keep our birthday the same, to have the same year. This was supposed to be the first year that we weren't alone, that we were together, but I had to go and screw _that_ up, too…"

"You panicked, it happens. It's not like this is the first time any of us have freaked out when things are more normal than we're used to."

Parad shakes his head. "It's not that we're together. It's that it's wrong. We should have been the same age but… now you're twenty-six, and… I'm not…" Emu rubs circles on his back, and some of the trembling slows down. "I usually just try not to think about my 'trip abroad' but I just… kind of flipped out when I realized that… I'm twenty-_eight_ now, and that's _wrong_, of all the things that have gone wrong, I think that's one of the worst.

"We were supposed to _match_, but now we never actually _can_. If I'd managed to get back _faster…_"

"If you'd come back sooner, we wouldn't have won." Emu holds Parad in a one-armed hug. "Forget about the power loss, if you hadn't been over with Build, the two groups wouldn't have been able to synchronize our actions.

"As for the age thing…" Emu purses his lips. "Well, _legally_, we're still the same age. And we've been making half of this up as we go, so… as far as I'm concerned, whatever you want to say, goes. It's _your_ life, after all."

"…I…" Rubbing at his eyes, Parad hesitates. "…I want to be able to share this…"

"Then that's what we'll do. Now then." Emu grins. "These candles aren't going to light themselves. Would you like the honor?"

* * *

**Kiriya opened a Group Chat**

**Kiriya:** so was anyone going to tell me its the nerds birthdays  
**Kiriya:** or was i just supposed to find that out when parad panicked over it

**Poppy:** O.O Oh my goodness!  
**Poppy:** It's that time already?!

**Nico:** Oh, yeah, dude, you were being all evil last one, weren't ya?

**Kiriya:** i did no such thing  
**Kiriya:** it was a carefully thought out plan shut up

**Taiga:** Our having gotten the silent treatment from Emu after the beach fight says otherwise.

**Kiriya:** how about you shut up

**Hiiro:** If I could be allowed to return some sanity to this chat?

**Kiriya:** sounds fake but okay

**Nico:** failed step one

**Hiiro:** Today is Emu and Parad's birthday?

**Poppy:** Yup! Looks like it!  
**Poppy:** It completely slipped my mind, too...  
**Poppy:** -.-;

**Taiga:** Are we going to be doing anything for them?

**Hiiro:** The get-together IS this Sunday, so if we tell the other Riders, I'm sure they can manage something in a hurry.

**Taiga:** That might be a bad idea. I don't think Emu has good associations with the day.

**Kiriya:** yeah theyre saying something about always having a cupcake while alone  
**Kiriya:** so that cant be a good sign  
**Kiriya:** also parads having a crisis over the whole two year time gap thing

**Nico:** …are you stalking them?  
**Nico:** because that's *my* job, y'know.

**Poppy:** It IS a little creepy, Kiriya.  
**Poppy:** :|

**Kiriya:** hey come on  
**Kiriya:** im being a good roommate here  
**Kiriya:** watching out for two slightly self destructive nerds  
**Kiriya:** also parad just assumed that emu would follow him  
**Kiriya:** because thats the sort of thing they do  
**Kiriya:** emu didnt even remember until parad took off

**Taiga:** That actually sounds about right for last year, too.  
**Taiga:** He didn't seem to realize until Nico brought in a cake.

**Hiiro:** Nico. Why were you the one to realize?

**Nico:** did I not JUST say that stalking him was kinda my thing?  
**Nico:** his b-day's on his public profiles on, like, all sorts of game servers and stuff  
**Nico:** he hid his NAME but not his BIRTHDAY  
**Nico:** hid the year though, I'll give him that.

**Hiiro:** This is absurd. Kiriya, just go talk to them, find out if they'd be okay with a party.  
**Hiiro:** It would be at Amanogawa, since Kisaragi's hosting, so we would have a decent enough venue.

Reading Hiiro's 'directive', Kiriya winces. Parad's only _just_ gotten himself back together. It's probably a _bad_ time to spring things on either of the guys.

**Kiriya:** its not a great time to ask anything  
**Kiriya:** im gonna wait till they get back to the apartment  
**Kiriya:** also im in the bushes and dont wanna pull a jump scare  
**Kiriya:** for once

**Taiga:** Thank you!

**Nico:** You're not eVEN THERE!

**Taiga:** Don't you start with me, young lady. Anything that gets Lazer to quit doing THAT is alright in my book.

**Nico:** …you can be replaced, you know.  
**Nico:** I have that power.

**Taiga:** You wouldn't dare.

**Nico:** Watch me.

**Taiga:** …Don't you dare.

**Poppy:** Nicooooo  
**Poppy:** }:(

**Nico:** I'm JOKING  
**Nico:** Geez

**Kiriya:** mmkay im going home  
**Kiriya:** i might put it to them when they get back  
**Kiriya:** a surprise party might work too  
**Kiriya:** later

Closing the chat and slipping his phone in his pocket, Kiriya turns his back to his roommates, and vanishes.

* * *

"Are you doing better?"

"Yeah…"

As they walk aimlessly through the streets, Emu smiles. "Good. I'm sorry I forgot, it's just that, you know, this whole birthday thing has never been that big a deal to me."

Parad smirks. "You say that, and yet this little tradition started with _you_." He flicks Emu on the shoulder. "Just because I kept it up better than you did doesn't mean it never messed with you. I know full well you started it when you turned _seven_."

"Argh!" Emu groans, lightly pushing Parad away. "Don't tell the others that! Can we just. Let them think it was when I was, I don't know, ten, at least? I'm not gonna pin it on you, because it wasn't, but… I don't like anyone knowing about the whole deal I was in."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Parad sombers a little. "How long did it take us to realize our situation wasn't normal?"

"You mean the household thing? High school." Sighing, Emu looks at the sky. "Last year… Nico brought a cake in. Wonder if they're going to pull something like that again."

Drawing in on himself, Parad shrugs. "Wouldn't know. Wouldn't put it past everyone, anyway. That'll be weird."

"Yeah. On the plus side, it won't be for the next few days, at least. We've all got work, and they won't dare throw that off."

"Ha! We've got a little until they have the _time_ to ambush us, then."

* * *

_June 17, 2018 – morning_

"Hey, Emu."

"Yeah."

"We probably should have remembered just _who_ we were dealing with when we thought that they might throw a surprise party of some sort."

"Yeah. This… this sure is something."

Emu and Parad stare blankly at the Amanogawa High School gymnasium, which has been converted into a party. For them. Because once again, the Hojos have both underestimated just how _much_ these people like them.

The two incredibly ostentatious cakes are something entirely else. (Oren is _glaring_ at the tablet Kougami is streaming in from.)

"…Hey, Parad, wanna teleport us out of here?" Emu starts backing away from the door.

"You've said that you hate when I did that?"

"I _do_, but I'm making an exception today. This is just _way_ too much."

Parad shrugs. "Can't argue with that." They reach out to do a fistbump and fuse-

And nothing happens. Well, nothing happens to _them_. Two waves of lights spread out across the room – purple and orange.

_Mighty Action X!_

_Jet Combat!_

"Nice try, guys." Kiriya smirks, holding the Proto-Jet Combat gashat that he's just activated. "See, me 'n 'god' have been doing some tests, and turns out that all the proto gashats have different secondary functions."

(Kuroto smiles, smug as ever, from where he's being closely watched, holding up his Proto-Mighty Action X Origin gashat.)

"See, we've already seen how his thing keeps possession from working, meaning that bugsters can't posses their hosts. My Bakusou Bike can slow down or stop an infection entirely, depending on how far it's advanced. And this thing-" He waves Jet Combat again "-can stop teleportation."

Parad glares. "Traitor."

Kiriya grins. "Now both of you get in here, and let us be nice to you."

Emu still wants to bolt, but also… he'd be setting a _really_ bad example. Part of the point of setting Reunited up was so that people could cope, but also part of it was because having friends who are also heroes is a lot easier than having ones that aren't involved.

…Friends. Right. It's still a little strange to apply that term in relation to _himself_ sometimes, never mind that it's been almost two years since he became Ex-Aid. "Fine. _F__ine_! If it'll get people off my back!" Emu sighs, as they allow themselves to be basically pulled into the party.

It does wind up being a good time, too, so it was worth it.

* * *

A/N: Emu's birthday is entirely one of my own choosing, specifically because Tetris was released on the Game Boy on June 14, 1989, and I couldn't resist. Additionally, while I may not really believe in horoscopes and the like, you will pry Gemini Emu from my cold, dead hands. I will take this bifurcation gimmick that Toei started, and I will run with it until the end.


End file.
